The US version of 'Spaced': Why watching footage from the never-broadcast pilot may seriously damage your eyesight

A couple of years back, Charlie’s Angels director McG announced that he was overseeing a US version of Spaced, the utterly fantastic, pop culture reference-drenched, British sitcom which starred Simon Pegg and Jessica Hynes. At the time, all of the creators of the original show expressed alarm at this turn of events. Director Edgar Wright blogged that he was having “a terrible recurring dream of being burgled in broad daylight (no joke, and no dream analyst required),” while Hynes jokingly declared her intention to oversee a British version of Charlie’s Angels about three women “who love to make biscuits, and wear button up cardigans.”

The US Spaced—which fans of the Brit comedy swiftly dubbed McSpaced—was subsequently abandoned, but not before a pilot was filmed. Now an enterprising blogger has tracked down footage from said show, which you can see below. I could say there isn’t enough material to judge whether it would have been good or not. But, to hell with that. Being British myself, I am instead going to side with director Wright, who has twittered his concern over “the large amount of you who stabbed out their eyes or washed them with bleach,” after watching it.

Does anyone out there think “McSpaced” could have worked? Or, for that matter, would like to see a cleavage-free, baked goods-oriented, Charlie’s Angels? Let us know! Incidentally, the original Spaced is very much available for purchase on DVD complete with commentaries from Kevin Smith and Quentin Tarantino, among others.